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Advice to Bill Hoodless

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Enquiry

From
Bill Hoodless
Date advice given
5 November 2013
Enquiry type
Email

Is it acceptable for objectors to a wind farm to refer to their negative view of policy matters within their objections please? If not, would the Inspector strike out the entire objection as tainted with an item beyond his or her remit, or instead, say the objection has been considered except for the part relating to policy? Alternatively, would the Inspector consider the merit of the entire objection, giving due weight to all parts of it?

Advice given

As you may be aware, the policy context for nationally significant infrastructure projects under the Planning Act 2008 regime is embedded in a suite of national policy statements (NPSs). There are six NPSs designated in the energy sector, and these are available to view via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/consents-and-planning-applications-for-national-energy-infrastructure-projects. Where one or more national policy statements have been designated and are relevant to a specific type of development, those statements have primacy in the decision-making process.

Section 102(4) of the Planning Act 2008 defines the term 'relevant representation'; making explicit that a representation is not a relevant representation if it contains material about the merits of policy set out in a national policy statement. The Planning Inspectorate's advice note 8.3: http://infrastructure.planningportal.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Advice-note-8-3v4.pdf expands on the content of this provision, stating that " [...] the Examining Authority may disregard representations which it considers are vexatious or frivolous, or those which deal with the merits of matters of national policy, contained in National Policy Statements (NPSs). NPSs have already been the subject of consultation and parliamentary approval and it is not the role of the examination to debate the merits of national policy."

Therefore if a representation were to include material about the merits of national policy, that part may be disregarded by an Examining Authority. A representation that refers solely to the merits of national policy, therefore, is likely to be disregarded entirely by an Examining Authority. The latter scenario may compromise the 'relevant representation' test described above under s102 of the PA2008; and in turn a persons 'interested party' status.